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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Last week, I showed some poster displays around my classroom and those are important little pieces. Let's look at more organizing with other Whole Brain Teaching components.

Scoreboard:
The Scoreboard is whole class motivation and management. When I have had 2 sections in the past, I actually had two side-by-side Scoreboards up in the classroom. This provided some motivation for each section because I left the score up for the other group to see. You can see pictures of that double Scoreboard version here.

This year, I will have two sections again, but I'm going to keep the Scoreboard on my front whiteboard. Most likely, I will split the area in half for the individual classes. (Sorry I don't have a picture! I forgot to take one today!)

Practice Cards:
In last week's post, one picture showed a red, numbered pocket chart. That chart will serve as my home for Practice Cards if they are needed later in the year. I can easily walk over the the chart, place the appropriate rule card into the child's numbered pocket and continue teaching. No need to scold the student or have them take a walk of shame to do it themselves! With numbers rather than names on the pockets, there's no need to worry about others knowing who received a card.

Super Improvers:
The final part of this week's peek into my room is how I plan to organize and display my SIW - or Super Improvers Wall.

The pocket chart above will be our SIW home. The various colors of index cards that are the student cards and the stickers for the cards are kept near my teaching area in a clear storage box.

Right now, I'm leaving it somewhat ordinary with no mention of SIW. During the first week of school. I will be adding components to build interest and curiosity. There will be blank white index cards, then one added on the side with Level 1 on it. Other colored cards will join the Level 1 card, but the level side will not be seen. A header near the top of the chart will replace Coming Soon with Super Improvers Wall written on it. The cards will be turned to reveal the students names last. The students will as, but I won't reveal anything until the 2nd week of school when the system is introduced.

Other WB teachers choose to put the completed wall up from day one rather than using a slow reveal. Do what works best for you, your classroom, and your students.

Next week, I'll talk about the area where I'll be displaying Power Pix and I'll show some pictures of my student desk arrangement. The count down for me has officially begun - 2 weeks from today is our teacher return and parent orientation day!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

I'm linking up with Mrs. Shipley's WBT Wednesday, just a little delayed this week!

It's back to school time again! With the start of school just 3 short weeks away, I've been working to get my 3rd grade room ready for funtricity! This post starts a series of posts on parts of my classroom that I've set up related to Whole Brain Teaching.

Let's look at some displays around my classroom.

Front and center in my classroom are the 5 rules posters shown in the top half of the picture. I chose to use this version available for a small fee on the WBT website. In the past I've used the free ones from there as well as ones I've made myself. Teacher Pay Teachers has many options if you don't want to create your own, just know they should be FREE!

These rules aren't just to decorate our classroom! I have 2 sections of students and we will review the rules several times each day for a couple weeks, then 2-3 times a day or more often as needed as the year progresses.

Next to the clock are FREE signs with some of the most often used WBT techniques. Again, just as you can get other versions of the rules, you can find these out there in other themes as well. I placed them near the clock in my room so students have a reminder of them whenever they wander off to see how much time is left until the next happening of the day.

It's a little hard to see, but at the top of this bulletin board are some of the new Brainies! To help save space on my walls, I put two per page. I'm teaching math and social science (a mix of science and social studies throughout the year), so I did not print out all of the Brainies pertaining to very specific ELA skills like clauses and parts of speech. I've left some room to add a couple more later in the year. These "posters" include capital letter, end marks, commas, and, Help Me! and other Brainies that my students will be using frequently. This area is also in the from of my classroom to serve as visual reminders.

Next week, I'll focus on how I plan to work my Scoreboard with 2 classes as well as organizing for Super Improvers and possible Practice Cards later in the school year.